Ep 44 - Price vs. Value: A Masterclass in Selling Beyond the Number
- Chad Lingafelt
- Aug 21
- 2 min read
In a competitive market, it's easy for businesses to fall into the trap of competing on price alone. However, true success lies in demonstrating value. In a recent "Unlocked" podcast episode, Lars from Calgary Lock & Safe in Alberta, Tony from Assured Security in Minnesota, and Chad from Loc-Doc Security in Charlotte, NC, shared their philosophies on how to master the art of selling value over price.
Positioning Yourself as a Third-Party Consultant
Lars explained a powerful strategy he learned from books like
Never Split the Difference and StoryBrand: positioning yourself as an independent third-party consultant. By framing the conversation around the customer's goal of getting the best value, you become their guide. Instead of saying, "buy our widget because it's the best," you can say, "My job is to help you decide which product is the right solution for you". This builds trust and humanizes the relationship, making price a secondary factor to the overall solution and expertise you provide.
Know and Communicate Your "Why" A critical takeaway from the discussion was the importance of knowing and being able to articulate your company's "why". If you can't explain your competitive advantage or what justifies your price, your team likely can't either. Whether your advantage is faster service, unique products, or a flat-rate pricing model, understanding and communicating this "why" is the foundation of moving beyond a price-driven conversation.
The Great Pricing Debate: Lump Sum vs. Line Item
The hosts engaged in a lively debate over how to present quotes, specifically whether to provide a single lump-sum total or a detailed line-item breakdown.
Lars’s Approach (Lump Sum): He advocates for flat-rate pricing, providing a single price for "supply and install". This model simplifies the process and avoids customer pushback on labor rates, which people are highly sensitive to. He believes it's unfair to charge a customer more if a less-efficient technician takes longer, so the price should be consistent regardless of the time it takes.
Chad and Tony's Approach (Line Item): They favor breaking down the price to build trust. To them, a lump sum can feel "fishy" or like a company is trying to "pull something over" on the customer. A line-by-line breakdown of costs, even if it's just "door number four, access control, $3000," provides transparency and justification for the total price.
Ultimately, the consensus was that there are valid philosophies for both approaches. However, they all agreed that highlighting the most price-sensitive categories (like service calls and hourly labor rates) is a mistake. The most inelastic category is hardware, as customers generally have no idea what a key or a lever set should cost.
The final piece of advice? When a customer asks for a discount, don't just give one. Instead, ask them what they'd like to get rid of from the quote to lower the price. This forces them to re-evaluate the value of the components and almost always leads to them accepting the original offer.
Links:
🔗 : https://unlockedpodcast.com